KR20190084106A - System and method for loudspeaker position estimation - Google Patents

Abstract

There is described an embodiment of a system and method for estimating the position of a loudspeaker and notifying the listener when an abnormal condition such as an incorrect loudspeaker orientation or blockage in the path between the loudspeaker and the microphone array is detected. For example, a front component of a multi-channel surround sound system may include a microphone array and a location estimation engine. The location estimation engine can estimate the distance between the loudspeaker and the microphone array. In addition, the position estimation engine may estimate the angle of the loudspeaker using the first technique. The position estimation engine may also estimate the angle of the loudspeaker using a second technique. Two angles may be processed to determine whether an abnormal condition is present. If there is an abnormal condition, the listener may be notified and may be offered a suggestion to solve the problem in the graphical user interface.

Description

System and method for loudspeaker position estimation

[Cross reference to related application]

This application claims the benefit of US Provisional Application No. 62 / 423,041, filed November 16, 2016, entitled " SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOUDSPEAKER POSITION ESTIMATION " Priority is claimed under §119 (e), which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND ART [0002]

Surround sound systems typically require calibration by a listener to achieve a high quality listening experience. Typically, the surround sound system receives a test signal that is manually corrected using a sweet spot or a multi-element microphone placed in the default listening position and reproduced on each loudspeaker of the surround sound system. Multi-element microphones are typically tethered to an audio / video (A / V) receiver or processor over long cables. However, physically placing the multi-element microphone in a sweet spot or a default listening position can be cumbersome for the listener.

One aspect of the present disclosure provides an apparatus for estimating the position of a loudspeaker in a multi-channel surround sound system. The apparatus includes a microphone array including a first microphone and a second microphone, wherein the first microphone is configured to generate a first audio signal in response to the loudspeaker outputting a test signal, And to generate a second audio signal in response to the speaker outputting the test signal. The apparatus further includes a position estimation engine coupled to the microphone array, the position estimation engine comprising: determining an arrival time difference estimate based on the first audio signal and the second audio signal; Determine a first angle based on an arrival time difference estimate; Identify a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal; Identify a second direct path component in an impulse response derived from the second audio signal; Determine a second angle based on the first direct path component and the second direct path component; Based on a comparison of the first angle and the second angle, whether or not an abnormal condition exists.

The apparatus of the preceding paragraph is characterized in that the position estimation engine further comprises: dividing the first audio signal into one or more first segments, dividing the second audio signal into one or more second segments, and performing a first Fourier transform Generating a Fourier transform of a first one of the one or more first segments to form a first Fourier transform, generating a Fourier transform of a first one of the one or more second segments to form a second Fourier transform, And to determine an arrival time difference estimate based on the second Fourier transform; The location estimation engine may also: determine a plurality of arrival time difference estimates based on the generated Fourier transform of the at least one first segment and the at least one second segment, aggregate the plurality of arrival time difference estimates into a histogram, And to determine an arrival time difference estimate based on arrival time difference estimates in a plurality of arrival time difference estimates; The position estimation engine is also configured to identify a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal, based on the highest amplitude in the impulse response derived from the first audio signal; The location estimation engine may also: select a first time window that includes the first direct path component, a second time window that includes the second direct path component, compare the data of the first time window and the data of the second time window To determine a cross-correlation using the data, and to determine a second angle using the determined cross-correlation; The position estimation engine is further configured to: compare the first angle with the second angle, and to determine that an abnormal condition is present in response to determining that the first and second angles are not within the threshold angle value; The critical angle value includes a value between 0 and 15; The apparatus further comprises a notification generator configured to send a notification to the user device over the network in response to the determination that an abnormal condition is present; The notification includes either an indication that the angle of the loudspeaker is incorrect, an indication that the object is blocking the path between the loudspeaker and the microphone array, an indication that the polarity of the loudspeaker is incorrect, and an indication that the location of the loudspeaker is incorrect ; The apparatus includes one of a soundbar, an audio / visual (A / V) receiver, a center speaker, and a television; And a multi-channel surround sound system may include any subset of those arranged in one of the stereo, 2.1, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, 7.2, 11.1, 11.2, and 22.2 speaker layouts.

Another aspect of the disclosure provides a method of estimating the position of a loudspeaker in a multi-channel surround sound system. The method includes receiving a first audio signal from a first microphone of a microphone array and receiving a second audio signal from a second microphone of the microphone array; Determining an arrival time difference estimate based on the first audio signal and the second audio signal; Determining a first angle based on an arrival time difference estimate; Identifying a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal; Identifying a second direct path component in an impulse response derived from the second audio signal; Determining a second angle based on the first direct path component and the second direct path component; And determining whether an abnormal condition exists based on a comparison of the first angle and the second angle.

The method of the preceding paragraph comprises the steps of: dividing the first audio signal into one or more first segments, dividing the second audio signal into one or more second segments, Generating a Fourier transform of a first one of the one or more first segments to form a first Fourier transform, generating a Fourier transform of a first one of the one or more second segments to form a second Fourier transform, And determining an arrival time difference estimate based on the first Fourier transform and the second Fourier transform; Wherein identifying a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from a first audio signal comprises comparing a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from a first audio signal to a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from a first audio signal, Further comprising identifying a path component; Determining whether an abnormal condition is present comprises: comparing the first angle with a second angle, and determining that an abnormal condition is present in response to determining that the first and second angles are not within the threshold angle value Further comprising the steps of: The critical angle value includes a value between 0 and 15; The method further comprises transmitting a notification to the user device over the network in response to the determination that an abnormal condition is present, wherein the indication is an indication that the angle of the loudspeaker is incorrect, the object is a path between the loudspeaker and the microphone array , An indication that the polarity of the loudspeaker is incorrect, and an indication that the location of the loudspeaker is inaccurate.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a non-volatile physical computer storage device in which executable instructions are stored, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by a hardware processor, instruct at least: a loudspeaker to transmit a test signal; Determine a first angle based on a first audio signal recorded from a first microphone in the microphone array and a second audio signal recorded from a second microphone in the microphone array using the first technique; Determine a second angle based on the first audio signal and the second audio signal using a second technique; Based on a comparison of the first angle and the second angle, whether or not an abnormal condition exists.

The non-volatile physical computer storage of the preceding paragraph includes the following features: the first technique includes a Generalized Cross Correlation and Phase Transform (GCC-PHAT) technique; And the second technique may include any subset of those that include direct path component (DPC) techniques.

For purposes of summarizing the disclosure, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention are described herein. It is to be understood that not all of these advantages may necessarily be achieved in accordance with any particular embodiment of the invention disclosed herein. Accordingly, the invention disclosed herein may be practiced or carried out in a manner that accomplishes or optimizes a group of benefits or advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other benefits which may be or will be taught herein.

Throughout the drawings, reference numerals are reused to indicate the correspondence between the referenced elements. The drawings are provided to illustrate embodiments of the invention described herein and are not provided to limit the scope thereof.
FIG. 1A illustrates a high-level block diagram illustrating an exemplary indoor environment for estimating a loudspeaker position and correcting a multi-channel surround sound system in accordance with one embodiment.
1B illustrates a block diagram illustrating a user device communicating with a sound bar over a network in accordance with one embodiment.
2A illustrates an exemplary loudspeaker position estimation process.
Figure 2B illustrates an exemplary direct path component (DPC) selection process.
Figure 2C shows an exemplary loudspeaker angle determination process using DPC.
Figure 2d shows an exemplary loudspeaker abnormal condition detection process.
Figure 3 shows an exemplary graph showing the impulse response for a first microphone in the microphone array of Figure la and the impulse response for a second one of the microphone arrays of Figure 1a.
Figure 4 shows an exemplary graph illustrating a situation where the determined first angle and the determined second angle have similar values.
Figure 5 shows an exemplary graph illustrating a situation where the determined first angle and the determined second angle do not have a similar value.
FIG. 6 shows an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI) that may be displayed by the user device of FIG. 1B.
7 illustrates another exemplary loudspeaker position estimation process.
FIG. 8 shows a high-level block diagram illustrating an example of a first angle in the exemplary indoor environment of FIG. 1A in accordance with one embodiment.

Introduction

As described in the background, it may be cumbersome to require the listener to physically place the multi-element microphone at the sweet spot or default listening position for the purpose of correction. Thus, one or more microphones may be integrated at a known location in the center. For example, the one or more microphones may be integrated into a front component of a multi-channel surround sound system, such as a sound bar, an A / V receiver, a center speaker, a television, and / or a device below or above the television.

The standard layout may include position (s) to place one or more loudspeakers relative to a known location in the center of one or more microphones or other reference points (e.g., listening positions) to achieve an optimal or near optimal listening experience . However, it is often difficult for the listener to place the loudspeaker in the optimal position. For example, walls, doors, furniture, and / or other objects may prevent the listener from placing the one or more loudspeakers in an optimal position. If the loudspeaker can not be placed in an optimal position, distortion of the audio image may occur and the listener may not experience the sound scene intended by the content creator.

If the loudspeaker can not be placed in an optimal position, the audio signal transmitted to the loudspeaker can be modified to minimize distortion through spatial correction and compensation. In the case of spatial correction, it may be important to determine the position of the loudspeaker relative to the known position in the center of one or more microphones or relative to the listening position.

Typically, the position of the loudspeaker reproduces the correction signal through the loudspeaker, receives the resulting acoustic signal with the correction microphone (s), records the microphone output signal (s), and outputs the recorded signal (s) (GCC-PHAT: Generalized Cross Correlation with Phase Transform Weighting). The GCC-PHAT technique can produce reliable results when a loudspeaker is directly opposite one or more microphones. However, the GCC-PHAT technique can produce unreliable results in other situations. For example, the GCC-PHAT technique can produce unreliable results if an object blocks the path between the loudspeaker and one or more microphones. As another example, the GCC-PHAT technique may produce unreliable results if the loudspeaker is oriented in a direction other than the direction toward one or more microphones.

Thus, an embodiment of a loudspeaker location estimation system is described herein that estimates the location and / or orientation of the loudspeaker and notifies the listener if the loudspeaker orientation is incorrect or the object is blocking the path between the loudspeaker and the microphone. For example, a loudspeaker position estimation system may be integrated within a device (e.g., an AV receiver, a sound bar, a center speaker, a television, etc.) that includes two or more microphones. The loudspeaker position estimation system may command the loudspeaker to output a test signal (e.g., a maximum length sequence). Each microphone can receive the resulting acoustic signal of the output test signal. Each microphone can convert an acoustic signal into an audio signal, and the audio signal can be written to the storage device. The loudspeaker position estimation system can determine the distance of the loudspeaker. The loudspeaker position estimation system can also use the GCC-PHAT technique and the recorded audio signal to determine the estimated angle of the loudspeaker. The loudspeaker position estimation system may also use a direct path component (DPC) obtained from the recorded audio signal to determine an estimated angle of the loudspeaker.

The loudspeaker position estimation system can compare the two estimated angles. If the two estimated angles are within the critical angle value, the loudspeaker position estimation system may notify the listener that clogging between the microphone and the loudspeaker has not been detected. The loudspeaker position estimation system can likewise notify the listener that the loudspeaker is correctly oriented towards the center of the listening circle. Alternatively, the loudspeaker position estimation system may derive a parameter for the compensation component based on at least one of the estimated angles when the two estimated angles are within the threshold angle value, And may be used to compensate for placement or other abnormal conditions (e.g., when processing audio before playing through a loudspeaker). However, if the two estimated angles are within the critical angle value, there may be an inaccurate or non-ideal angle of the loudspeaker and / or an incorrect or unrealistic loudspeaker position. The loudspeaker position estimation system can compare one estimated angle or two estimated angles with an ideal angle (e.g., an angle specified in an ideal loudspeaker layout), and if the compared angle is not within a different threshold angle value, The loudspeaker position estimation system may determine that there is an incorrect or non-ideal angle of the loudspeaker and / or an incorrect or unrealistic loudspeaker position. If the two estimated angles are not within the critical angle value, the loudspeaker position estimation system may notify the listener that an abnormal condition has been detected. Examples of abnormal conditions may include clogging between the microphone and the loudspeaker, incorrect or unrealistic angle of the loudspeaker, incorrect loudspeaker polarity, and / or incorrect or unrealistic loudspeaker position. An application running on a user device, such as a mobile computing device, may communicate with the loudspeaker location system and create an interface to display the notification. Alternatively or additionally, the loudspeaker position estimation system may provide information to a compensation component that modifies the signal transmitted to the loudspeaker to compensate for non-ideal loudspeaker placement or other abnormal conditions. Additional details of the loudspeaker location estimation system are described below with respect to Figures 1A-8.

An overview of an exemplary loudspeaker position estimation system

1 a shows a high-level block diagram illustrating an exemplary indoor environment 100 for estimating a loudspeaker position and calibrating a multi-channel surround sound system in accordance with one embodiment. Multi-channel surround sound systems are often arranged according to a standardized loudspeaker layout such as stereo, 2.1, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, 7.2, 11.1, 11.2 or 22.2. Other loudspeaker layouts or arrays such as wave field synthesis (WFS) arrays or other object-based render layouts may also be used. The soundbar is a special loudspeaker enclosure that can be mounted above or below a display device such as a monitor or television. Modern sound bar models are powered systems that often include an array of speakers incorporating left and right channel speakers with optional center speakers and / or subwoofers. The soundbar has become a flexible solution to either a standalone surround sound system or a major front component of a home theater system when connected to wired or wireless surround speakers and / or a subwoofer.

In FIG. 1A, the indoor environment 100 includes three loudspeaker arrangements (e. G., Soundbar 110, left surround loudspeaker 106, right surround loudspeaker 108 and subwoofer 104) 102 (or a monitor or video screen), a listener 120, and a couch 122. The sound bar 110 includes a speaker array 112 integrated into the enclosure, a microphone array 114, a position estimation engine 116, a correction engine (not shown) and an A / V processing engine (not shown) can do. In another embodiment, the soundbar 110 includes fewer or more components than the one shown in FIG. 1A.

The advent and spread of DVD, Blu-ray® and streaming content has led to the wide availability of multi-channel soundtracks. Most modern surround sound formats specify the ideal loudspeaker placement for proper reproduction of such content. A typical listener who owns a surround sound system often can not follow these specifications for loudspeaker settings for practical reasons such as interior layout or furniture placement. This often leads to inconsistencies between the content producer's intent and the listener's spatial audio experience. For example, it is often best practice to place a loudspeaker along the recommended array source 130 and sit at or near the center of the array source 130 where the listener is recommended. More details on the recommended loudspeaker arrangement can be found in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Report ITU-R BS.2159-4 (05/2012) "Multichannel Sound Technology in Home and Broadcast Applications" And is incorporated by reference in its entirety. However, due to room constraints in the indoor environment 100 or user preferences, the right surround loudspeaker 108 is not placed at its recommended position 109, and the listener 120 is not in the recommended array source 130 And seated on the couch 122 away from the center.

One solution to this problem, commonly known as spatial correction, typically requires the listener to place the microphone array in the default listening position (or sweet spot). The system then reproduces the test signal through each loudspeaker, records the corresponding microphone signal (e.g., the converted version of the acoustic signal captured by the microphone array), analyzes the recorded signal, Of the loudspeaker. By approximating the location of each loudspeaker 106 and 108, the system spatially reforms the multi-channel soundtrack into a real speaker layout using a compensation process. Specifically, the spatial correction process generally approximates the position of each loudspeaker, utilizes the approximated position to determine the loudspeaker setup error, presents a solution to the setup error, and / (E.g., a loudspeaker position estimate) that can be used by the receiver. The compensation process may include using the estimated compensation parameters to modify the audio signal for optimal playback (e.g., when the loudspeaker is in a non-ideal system layout). However, such a spatial correction process may be both intimidating and inconvenient to a typical listener. When the listener 120 moves to another location, this conventional method has no way to detect and compensate for such a change, and the listener 120 has to go through the entire calibration process manually with the microphone placed at the new listening position. In contrast, using an integrated microphone array 114 in the sound bar 110, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference and is entitled "SPATIAL CALIBRATION OF A SURROUND SOUND SYSTEM CONTAINING LISTENER LOCATION INSPECTION (Not shown) within the sound bar 110 is provided to the loudspeakers 106 and 108, as described in more detail in US Patent Publication No. 2015/0016642, entitled " OF SURROUND SOUND SYSTEMS INCLUDING LISTENER POSITION ESTIMATION & As well as estimate the location of the listener 120 with minimal user intervention. In some embodiments, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference, and is entitled " GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR CALIBRATING A SURROUND SOUND SYSTEM ", filed on November 21, 2016, &Quot;, as described in more detail in U. S. Patent Application Serial No. < RTI ID = 0.0 > 15 / 357,971, < / RTI > Another approach to spatial correction is to incorporate a microphone into each of the loudspeakers 106 and 108, which can be prohibitively expensive compared to using a miniature microphone array integrated in the central component.

However, an accurate estimate of the compensation parameter may depend on an accurate estimate of the location of the loudspeakers 106 and 108. Incorrect loudspeaker 106 and 108 position estimates may lead to inferior audio signal modification and / or lane listening experience. For example, if the loudspeaker 106 or 108 is moved away from the microphone array 114 or the path between the microphone array 114 and the loudspeaker 106 or 108 is blocked by the object, Estimation techniques can fail. For example, since the front surface of the left surround loudspeaker 106 is not oriented in the direction that points toward the microphone array 114, a conventional loudspeaker position estimation technique may be used to determine the position of the left surround loudspeaker 106 Can be inaccurately estimated. As another example, since the couch 122 is in the path between the right surround loudspeaker 108 and the microphone array 114, the front of the right surround loudspeaker 108 is oriented in the direction toward the microphone array 114 A conventional loudspeaker position estimation technique may inaccurately estimate the position of the right surround speaker 108.

Thus, even if the loudspeaker 106 or 108 is not oriented in the direction of the microphone array 114 or the path between the loudspeaker 106 or 108 and the microphone array 114 is blocked, A technique may be implemented that improves loudspeaker 106 and 108 position estimation. For example, the position estimation engine 116 may estimate the position of the loudspeaker 106 or 108 using a first technique. The estimated position using the first technique can be considered as a baseline estimate. The location estimation engine 116 may also estimate the location of the loudspeaker 106 or 108 using a second technique. The estimated position using the second technique can be utilized to detect an abnormal situation such as a clogged path or incorrect loudspeaker orientation. The position estimation engine 116 may use both position estimates to derive a more reliable loudspeaker position estimate. The loudspeaker position estimate may be used to generate user notifications and / or compensate for non-ideal loudspeaker 106 or 108 placement or other abnormal conditions. Additional details of the first and second techniques are described below with respect to Figures 2A-2D. Although the location estimation engine 116 is described herein as using two position estimation techniques, it is not intended to be limiting. The position estimation engine 116 may combine the results of any number of position estimation techniques (e.g., 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.) to yield a more reliable loudspeaker position estimate. An artificial intelligence or heuristic approach such as a neural network may be used to derive more reliable loudspeaker position estimates by combining the results of the location estimation technique.

In addition, the soundbar 110 may generate a notification to the listener 120 when an abnormal condition is detected. 1B illustrates a block diagram illustrating a user device 140 in communication with a sound bar 110 via a network 115 in accordance with one embodiment. The network 115 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), the Internet, or a combination thereof. As shown in FIG. 1B, an exemplary sound bar 110 includes a position estimation engine 116 and a notification generator 118.

User device 140 may be a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a television, a wireless portable device (such as a smart phone), a sound bar, a set- Box, an A / V receiver, a home theater system component, and / or a combination thereof. User device 140 may execute an application that causes user device 140 to display a user interface. For example, the user interface may display the estimated position of the sound bar 110, the subwoofer 104, the left surround loudspeaker 106 and / or the right surround loudspeaker 108. The user interface may also include functionality that allows the listener 120 to initiate corrections (e.g., spatial correction and / or non-spatial correction). When the listener 120 initiates the calibration, the user device 140 performs a calibration operation on the sound bar 110 (e.g., a calibration embedded in the sound bar 110 Engine). As part of the correction operation, the soundbar 110 commands the position estimation engine 116 to estimate the position of one or more loudspeakers 106 and 108 in the manner described herein. Based on the result of the position estimation, the position estimation engine 116 can determine whether or not an abnormal condition exists. Examples of abnormal conditions include an object blocking the path between the microphone array 114 and the loudspeaker 106 or 108, an incorrect loudspeaker 106 or 108 angle, an incorrect loudspeaker 106 or 108 polarity, and / May include incorrect or unrealistic loudspeaker 106 or 108 locations. This determination may be sent by the location estimation engine 116 to the notification generator 118. [ In addition, the position estimate (or parameters derived from the position estimate) may be modified by the sound bar 110, which modifies the multi-channel audio for optimal playback through the placed loudspeakers 106 and 108, (E. G., A component that implements the compensation process described herein).

The notification generator 118 may generate a notification based on the determination provided by the location estimation engine 116. [ For example, if an abnormal condition is not detected, the notification generator 118 may generate a notification that an abnormal condition is not detected, or may not generate any notification. Alternatively, if an abnormal condition is detected, the notification generator 118 may generate a notification that indicates what abnormal conditions have been detected, instruct the listener 120 how to fix the problem, and / And instruct the listener 120 to select the correction option again. Optionally, the soundbar 110 can automatically correct the problem, as described in more detail below.

The notification generator 118 may send a notification to the user device 140 via the network 115. Once a notification is received from the notification generator 118, the application may cause the user device 140 to display a notification in the user interface.

It should be noted that Figs. 1A and 1B show only one example of a surround sound system arrangement. Other embodiments may include different loudspeaker layouts with more or fewer loudspeakers. For example, the soundbar 110 may be replaced with a center channel speaker, two front channel speakers (left one and right one) and an A / V receiver to form a conventional 5.1 array. In this example, the microphone array 114 may be integrated into a center channel speaker or A / V receiver, and the correction engine, the position estimation engine 116 and the notification generator 118 may be part of an A / V receiver, The array 114 may be coupled to a correction engine, a position estimation engine 116, and / or a notification generator 118. The sound bar 110 may also be replaced by a television or any other A / V component and the alternate AV component may include a correction engine, a position estimation engine 116, a notification generator 118, and / or a microphone array 114 .

1A shows a microphone array 114 that includes two microphones, but is not intended to be limiting. An extra microphone or microphone array may be installed to direct the upper loudspeaker, the left front loudspeaker, the right front loudspeaker, and / or other loudspeakers for better measurement and position estimation. For example, the third microphone may be included in the microphone array 114 at a different depth and / or height than the other two microphones (e.g., not with the other two microphones). Placing the third microphone outside the line formed by the other two microphones may cause the position estimation engine 116 to estimate the angle of the loudspeaker in three dimensions (e.g., zenith angle in addition to azimuth).

1A and 1B show a single location estimation engine 116 included in the sound bar 110, but this is not intended to be limiting. The soundbar 110 may include any number of position estimation engines 116 (e.g., one location estimation engine 116 for each of a plurality of different subsets within the microphone array 114). For example, the position estimation engine 116 may be a hardware device that includes a computer processing unit (CPU), memory, and / or other hardware components (e.g., an analog to digital converter . A bus couples the CPU directly to a microphone in the microphone array 114 so that the CPU can process the recorded audio signal from the microphone. If the soundbar 110 includes a single location estimation engine 116, the bus may couple each microphone in the microphone array 114 to a buffer that temporarily stores the recorded audio signal from each microphone . The switching mechanism can be used to send data from the buffer to the CPU for processing. Alternatively, the single location estimation engine 116 may comprise a plurality of CPUs and the bus may couple each microphone in the microphone array 114 to a separate CPU for processing.

An exemplary loudspeaker position estimation process

FIG. 2A shows an exemplary loudspeaker position estimation process 200. FIG. In one embodiment, the process 200 is described herein, including the sound bar 110 (e.g., the position estimation engine 116 and / or the notification generator 118) discussed with respect to FIGS. 1A and 1B. Lt; / RTI > may be performed by any of the following systems. Depending on the embodiment, process 200 may include fewer and / or additional blocks, or blocks may be performed in a different order than shown.

Blocks 204, 206, 208, 210, 212, 214, 216 correspond to a first exemplary technique for estimating the location of a loudspeaker. For example, the first technique may be a GCC-PHAT technique and may generate a first angle estimate. In addition, processes 218 and 220 described in Figures 2B and 2C respectively correspond to a second technique for estimating the position of the loudspeaker. For example, the second technique may be a DPC technique and may generate a second angle estimate.

Process 200 may be initiated at block 202 after the listener initiates calibration and may be one of several processes implemented by sound bar 110 to perform calibration. The process 200 described herein may be performed by a soundbar 110 (e.g., a location estimation engine 116 and / or a notification device) to estimate a location of a single loudspeaker and / Generator 118). ≪ / RTI > The sound bar 110 may repeat the process 200 for one or more loudspeakers in a multi-channel surround sound system. For example, the soundbar 110 may perform the process 200 once for the left surround loudspeaker 106 and once for the right surround loudspeaker 108. [

At block 202, the loudspeaker is commanded to transmit a test signal. For example, the test signal may be a full length sequence (e.g., a pseudorandom binary sequence). The loudspeaker may be instructed to transmit a test signal by the location estimation engine 116 via a wired or wireless connection. In one embodiment, the test signal is output for 500ms. The loudspeaker may be coupled to the soundbar 110 and / or the microphone 110, such as a delay introduced by a loopback delay (e.g., hardware buffering, hardware filtering, signal conversion from digital to analog, and / / RTI > and / or the delay caused by the hardware components of the loudspeaker). The microphones in the microphone array 114 can each receive acoustic signals resulting from the output test signals. The microphone in microphone array 114 may then also convert the acoustic signal into an electrical signal corresponding to the audio signal, respectively. The audio signal may subsequently be written to a storage device (not shown). For example, the audio signal may include echo caused by an object (e.g., a wall, an object, etc.) in the indoor environment 100 as well as a direct path component of the output test signal. After completing block 202, process 200 continues at block 204 and process 218.

At block 204, the variable n is set equal to the number of microphones in the microphone array 114. For example, the variable n may be set to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and so on.

In block 206, the variable i is set equal to one. Variable i may identify a particular microphone in the microphone array 114. [

At block 208, a Fourier transform of the audio signal recorded from microphone i is performed to produce a Fourier transform i . The audio signal from the microphone i can be recorded for a set amount of time. For example, the set amount of time may be based on the maximum distance of the loudspeaker from the sound bar 110 and the length of time of the test signal. By way of example, the maximum distance of the loudspeaker from the sound bar 110 may be expected to be between 15 m and 20 m. Thus, when the speed of sound in air is approximately 342 m / s, the expected maximum amount of propagation time that the output test signal reaches the microphone i from the loudspeaker may be approximately between 43.9 ms and 58.5 ms. The audio signal from the microphone i can be recorded at least for a time (for example, at least approximately 558.5 ms) plus the estimated maximum time of propagation time plus the time length of the test signal. The Fourier transform may be performed on the entire recorded audio signal (e.g., approximately 558.5 ms of the audio signal). Alternatively, the Fourier transform may be performed on a portion of the recorded audio signal (e.g., a 10 ms to 30 ms segment of the recorded audio signal) and / or a plurality of Fourier transforms may be performed on a different portion of the recorded audio signal (E.g., the Fourier transform can be performed for each 30 ms segment of the recorded audio signal).

At block 210, the process 200 determines whether the variable i is equal to the variable n . If the variables i and n are the same, then the process 200 may perform a Fourier transform on the recorded audio signal from each microphone in the microphone array 114 and proceed to block 214. Otherwise, the process 200 has not performed a Fourier transform on the recorded audio signal from each microphone in the microphone array 114, and may proceed to block 212. [

At block 212, the variable i is incremented by one. After incrementing the variable i by 1, the process 200 returns to block 208 again.

In block 214, the arrival time difference is determined based on the Fourier transform. Considering the different locations of the microphones in the microphone array 114, for example, the output test signals (e.g., in the form of acoustic signals) can reach each microphone in the microphone array 114 at different times have. The arrival time difference can represent this time difference. If the microphone array 114 includes two microphones, the arrival time difference can be determined as follows:

(1)

(One)

는 2개의 마이크로폰 사이의 도달 시간차이고,

및

는 각각 2개의 마이크로폰으로부터 기록된 오디오 신호의 푸리에 변환이며,

는 가중 함수이다. 가중 함수는 다음과 같이 정의될 수 있다:here,

Is the arrival time difference between the two microphones,

And

Is a Fourier transform of an audio signal recorded from two microphones, respectively,

Is a weighting function. The weight function can be defined as:

(2)

(2)

In an alternative embodiment, the position estimation engine 116 determines a set of possible arrival time difference estimates and chooses one arrival time difference estimate to be the arrival time difference estimate for use in determining the first angle. For example, as described above, the Fourier transform can be performed on a portion of the recorded audio signal, such as a 10 ms to 30 ms segment of the recorded audio signal. Since the test signal may last for a longer period (e.g., 500 ms), the recorded audio signal may have a similar time length and may be partitioned or partitioned into a plurality of identical or nearly identical segments. The arrival time difference thereafter can be determined for each segment. For example, a first arrival time difference may be determined for a first segment recorded from a first microphone in the microphone array 114 and a first segment recorded from a second microphone in the microphone array 114, May be determined for a second segment recorded from a first microphone in the microphone array 114 and a second segment recorded from a second microphone in the microphone array 114, and so on. The location estimation engine 116 may organize the various arrival time difference estimates into a histogram. For example, the position estimation engine 116 may quantize the arrival time difference estimate and then bin the quantized arrival time difference estimate. The arrival time difference estimate with the highest occurrence count (e.g., the bin with the highest number of quantized arrival time difference estimates) may be selected as the arrival time difference estimate to use to determine the first angle. Optionally, each arrival time difference estimate can be derived from interpolated cross-correlation to achieve sub-sample accuracy. Each arrival time difference estimate may include an integer part and a fractional part. The arrival time difference estimate integer part can be organized into a histogram. The integer part of the arrival time difference may be selected based on the histogram (for example, the integer part corresponding to the arrival time difference estimate with the highest occurrence count may be selected as the integer part of the arrival time difference) The fractional part can be added back to the integer part. As an example, the fractional part corresponding to the selected arrival time difference estimate can be derived by taking the average of the fractional part of the original arrival time difference estimate whose integer part was in the selected bin.

At block 216, the first angle to the loudspeaker is determined based on the arrival time difference. For example, the distance between the microphones in the microphone array 114 may be known. The first angle can then be determined as follows:

(3)

(3)

는 도달 시간차이다. 제1 각도는 마이크로폰 어레이(114) 내의 마이크로폰을 통과하는 라인에 대해 마이크로폰 어레이(114)의 중심에 라우드스피커의 중심을 연결하는 라인의 각도를 나타낼 수 있다. 예로서, 마이크로폰 어레이(14) 내의 마이크로폰이 x-y 좌표 평면에서 y-성분을 갖지 않는 라인으로 정렬되고, 라우드스피커의 중심과 마이크로폰 어레이(114)의 중심을 연결하는 라인이 x-y 좌표 평면에서 x-성분을 갖지 않도록 라우드스피커의 중심이 위치되는 경우, 결정되는 제1 각도는 90°일 수 있다. 도 8은 일 실시예에 따라 도 1a의 예시적인 실내 환경(100)에서의 제1 각도(810)의 예를 도시하는 하이-레벨 블록도를 나타낸다. 도 8에 나타낸 바와 같이, 라인(820)은 좌측 서라운드 라우드스피커(106)의 중심을 마이크로폰 어레이(114)의 중심에 연결하고, 라인(830)은 마이크로폰 어레이(114) 내의 마이크로폰을 통과하는 라인을 나타낸다. 제1 각도(810)는 라인(820)과 라인(830) 사이의 각도를 나타낸다. 제1 각도가 결정된 후에, 프로세스(200)는 도 2d와 관련하여 보다 상세히 설명되는 프로세스(222)로 진행한다. 일 실시예에서, 제1 각도는 2개 초과의 마이크로폰을 포함하는 마이크로폰 어레이(114)에 대해 (1) 각 쌍의 마이크로폰에 대해 제1 각도를 결정한 후(예를 들어, 각 쌍의 마이크로폰에 대해 블록(214 및 216)을 반복함), 결과를 융합하고, 그리고/또는 (2) 도달 방향을 결정하기 위해 선형 대수학 공식을 사용함으로써 결정될 수 있다.Where c is the velocity of sound in the air, d is the distance between the microphones in the microphone array 114,

Is the time difference of arrival. The first angle may indicate the angle of the line connecting the center of the loudspeaker to the center of the microphone array 114 relative to the line passing through the microphone in the microphone array 114. As an example, a microphone in the microphone array 14 is aligned in a line having no y-component in the xy coordinate plane, and a line connecting the center of the loudspeaker and the center of the microphone array 114 is an x- The center of the loudspeaker is located, the first angle determined may be 90 degrees. FIG. 8 shows a high-level block diagram illustrating an example of a first angle 810 in the exemplary indoor environment 100 of FIG. 1A according to one embodiment. 8, line 820 connects the center of left surround loudspeaker 106 to the center of microphone array 114 and line 830 connects the center of microphone array 114 to a line passing through the microphone in microphone array 114 . The first angle 810 represents the angle between line 820 and line 830. After the first angle is determined, the process 200 proceeds to the process 222 described in more detail with respect to FIG. 2D. In one embodiment, the first angle is determined for a microphone array 114 that includes more than two microphones (1) after determining a first angle for each pair of microphones (e.g., for each pair of microphones Blocks 214 and 216), fusing the results, and / or (2) using the linear algebraic formulas to determine the direction of arrival.

FIG. 2B illustrates an exemplary DPC selection process 218. FIG. In one embodiment, the process 218 may include any of the systems described herein, including the sound bar 110 (e.g., the position estimation engine 116) described above with respect to FIGS. 1A and 1B ≪ / RTI > Depending on the embodiment, process 218 may include fewer and / or additional blocks, or blocks may be performed in a different order than shown.

Process 218 may be initiated at block 224 after block 202 of process 200 is completed. At block 224, the variable n is set equal to the number of microphones in the microphone array 114. For example, the variable n may be set to 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and so on.

At block 226, the variable i is set equal to one. Variable i may identify a particular microphone in the microphone array 114. [

At block 228, the maximum peak in the impulse response derived from the audio signal and test signal recorded from microphone i is determined. As an example, the position estimation engine 116 may derive an impulse response by taking a Fourier transform of the recorded audio signal and dividing the result by the Fourier transform of the test signal. Sharing results in a Fourier transform of the transfer function. The position estimation engine 116 may then take an inverse Fourier transform of the Fourier transform of the transfer function to derive the impulse response. In one embodiment, the position estimation engine 116 determines whether the loudspeaker starts at a time corresponding to one loopback delay after being instructed to output a test signal, Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > time window < / RTI >

At block 230, the critical amplitude is determined based on the determined maximum peak. For example, the critical amplitude may be a set percentage (e.g., 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, etc.) of the maximum peak determined.

At block 232, it is determined whether there is a peak in the impulse response that corresponds to the time before the maximum peak time and that is greater than the threshold amplitude. In some cases, due to echo in the indoor environment 100, the maximum peak is not a DPC (e.g., from a loudspeaker to a microphone i (as opposed to other audio signals that may reach microphone i after being reflected at one or more surfaces) The audio signal proceeding directly to the path of the audio signal). Thus, the position estimation engine 116 can determine the DPC by finding another peak that occurs before the maximum peak and has an amplitude above a certain threshold.

At block 234, process 218 continues to block 238 if there is a peak before the maximum peak, with an amplitude greater than the critical amplitude. Otherwise, process 218 continues to block 236. [

At block 236, the DPC of microphone i is set to the maximum peak. For example, the DPC can be set to the maximum peak because no other peaks have occurred before the maximum peak with an amplitude high enough to be considered a DPC. 3 shows an exemplary graph 300 illustrating the impulse response to the microphone 314A in the microphone array 114 and the impulse response to the microphone 314B in the microphone array 114. [ As shown in FIG. 3, peak 310A is the maximum peak for the impulse response of microphone 314A and peak 310B is the maximum peak for the impulse response of microphone 314B. Peak 310A can be set to the DPC of the impulse response to microphone 314A and peak 310B can be set to microphone 314B because no peak that occurs prior to peaks 310A and 310B can exceed the critical amplitude Can be set to the DPC of the impulse response.

At block 238, the DPC of microphone i is set to be the first peak in the impulse response, corresponding to the time before the maximum peak and greater than the threshold amplitude. For example, the plurality of peaks occurring before the maximum peak may exceed the critical amplitude. However, a first peak exceeding the critical amplitude may be selected as the DPC.

At block 240, process 218 determines whether variable i is equal to variable n . If the variables i and n are the same, the process 218 may determine the DPC for each microphone in the microphone array 114 and proceed to block 244 of the process 220. Otherwise, the process 218 may proceed to block 242 without determining the DPC for each microphone in the microphone array 114.

At block 242, the variable i is incremented by one. After incrementing the variable i by one, the process 218 returns to block 228. [

2C shows an exemplary loudspeaker angle determination process 220 using DPC. In one embodiment, the process 220 may include any of the systems described herein, including the sound bar 110 (e.g., the position estimation engine 116) described above with respect to FIGS. 1A and 1B ≪ / RTI > Depending on the embodiment, process 220 may include fewer and / or additional blocks, or blocks may be performed in a different order than shown.

Process 220 may be initiated at block 244 after block 240 of process 218 is complete. At block 244, a time window around each DPC is selected. For example, the location estimation engine 116 may, for each microphone i DPC, select a time window around each DPC. The time window may start a few ms (e.g., 10 ms, 20 ms, etc.) before the time of the DPC peak and may end with a few ms (e.g., 10 ms, 20 ms, etc.) after the time of the DPC peak.

At block 246, cross-correlation between the selected time windows is determined to estimate the time delay. For example, the location estimation engine 116 may determine the cross-correlation of the data contained in the selected time window. The estimated time delay may correspond to the length of time between the start of the inter-correlated data (e.g., the time corresponding to the start of the microphone i time window) and the time when the mutually-correlated data has the highest amplitude. Alternatively, interpolation may be performed on the cross correlation output to further improve the accuracy of the time delay estimation. In an alternative embodiment, the position estimation engine 116 may determine the estimated time delay by subtracting the time corresponding to the DPC peak for the first microphone from the time corresponding to the DPC peak for the second microphone. However, this approach can yield higher noise than performing cross-correlation, since the error of one sample can also have a significant impact on the resulting angle determination in some embodiments.

At block 248, a second angle is determined based on the estimated time delay. For example, equation (3) may be used in conjunction with an estimated time delay (e.g., replacing the arrival time difference) to determine a second angle. The second angle may represent the angle of the line connecting the center of the loudspeaker to the center of the microphone array 114 relative to the line passing through the microphone in the microphone array 114. If process 220 determines a second angle, process 220 may continue at block 250 of process 222.

FIG. 2D illustrates an exemplary loudspeaker abnormal condition detection process 222. FIG. In one embodiment, the process 222 may be implemented in any of a variety of ways, including the sound bar 110 (e.g., the position estimation engine 116 and / or the notification generator 118) described above with respect to FIGS. Can be performed by any of the systems described. Depending on the embodiment, process 222 may include fewer and / or additional blocks, or blocks may be performed in a different order than shown.

Process 222 may be initiated at block 250 after block 248 of process 220 is complete. At block 250, the first angle is compared to the second angle. In some embodiments, blocks 202, 204, 206, 208, 210, 212, 214 and 216, process 218 and process 220 are repeated a number of times. Thus, the first angle and the second angle can be compared over a series of tests.

The first angle determined when the output of the loudspeaker is directly opposite the microphone array 114 may be accurate. However, when the output of the loudspeaker is directed in a direction other than the direction toward the microphone array 114, or when there is clogging in the path between the microphone array 114 and the loudspeaker, the determined first angle is not accurate . The determined second angle may also be accurate when the output of the loudspeaker is pointing directly at the microphone array 114 and the loudspeaker may be pointing in a direction other than the direction towards the microphone array 114, May be more accurate than the first angle determined when there is clogging in the path between the loudspeakers.

Thus, at block 252, it is determined based on the comparison whether the difference between the first angle and the second angle is greater than the threshold angle value. If the difference between the two angles exceeds the threshold angle value, this may indicate that an abnormal condition exists. As an example, the critical angle value may be between 0 and 15 degrees. Considering the relatively consistent accuracy of the DPC technique and the inaccuracy of the GCC-PHAT technique when the loudspeaker is not facing the microphone array 114 or when the object blocks the path between the loudspeaker and the microphone array 114, ) Can provide results obtained by the DPC method in this situation. However, even if the difference between the two angles does not exceed the critical angle value, there may still be an incorrect or unrealistic angle of the loudspeaker and / or an incorrect or unrealistic loudspeaker position.

At block 254, process 222 continues at block 256 if the two angles are within the threshold angle value. Otherwise, process 222 continues to block 262. [ 4 illustrates a situation where the determined first angle 410 (e.g., determined using the GCC-PHAT technique) and the determined second angle 420 (determined using the DPC technique) have similar values Lt; RTI ID = 0.0 > 400 < / RTI > For example, the values of the determined first angle 410 and the determined second angle 420 may be within a critical angle value (e.g., the angle is within approximately 0.3 degrees). A plurality of tests may be performed such that a plurality of first and second angles 410 and 420 are determined. 5 illustrates that the determined first angle 510 (e.g., determined using the GCC-PHAT technique) and the determined second angle 450 (determined, for example, using the DPC technique) Gt; 500 < / RTI > For example, the values of the determined first angle 510 and the determined second angle 520 may not be within the critical angle value (e.g., the angle is approximately 11 degrees away). A plurality of tests may be performed such that a plurality of first and second angles 510, 520 are determined.

At block 256, the first and / or second angles are compared with an ideal angle. The ideal angle may be an angle derived or provided from an ideal loudspeaker layout. The comparison may be performed to determine whether there is an incorrect or unrealistic angle of the loudspeaker and / or whether there is an inaccurate or unrealistic loudspeaker position.

At block 258, the process 222 determines whether the first and / or second angles are indicative of an inaccurate or non-ideal angle of the loudspeaker and / or an inaccurate or unrealistic loudspeaker position is not detected (Either a critical angle value such as in blocks 252 and 254 or some other) of the ideal angle. Otherwise, process 222 continues to block 262. [

At block 260, no error is detected. The location estimation engine 116 may indicate to the notification generator 118 that no errors have been detected. The notification generator 118 may determine that no error is detected, the angle of the loudspeaker is correct and / or there is no object blocking the path between the loudspeaker and the sound bar 110 (e.g., microphone array 114) Lt; / RTI > Alternatively, the notification generator 118 may not generate a notification. The sound bar 110 may perform the remainder of the correction using either the determined angle and / or the distance determined based on the DPC peak.

At block 262, an abnormal condition is detected. The location estimation engine 116 may indicate to the notification generator 118 that an abnormal condition has been detected. The notification generator 118 may be used to determine if an object is blocking the path between the microphone array 114 and the loudspeaker and / or the object must be removed, an incorrect or unrealistic angle of the loudspeaker is detected, A position is detected, and / or an incorrect polarity is detected.

Alternatively or additionally, the notification may indicate that the loudspeaker is incorrectly oriented. For example, the notification may notify the listener 120 to confirm the orientation of the loudspeaker to the listener 120 (e.g., to determine whether the loudspeaker is oriented towards the center of the circle 130) have.

Alternatively or additionally, the notification may indicate that the loudspeaker has an incorrect location (e.g., the loudspeaker is located on the wrong side when the wired output is given). For example, when calibration is initiated, the soundbar 110 commands one or more loudspeakers to output a test signal. Therefore, the sound bar 110 knows, for example, which surround loudspeaker is outputting a test signal at a given time. If the listener 120 wires the left surround right surround loudspeaker so that the left surround loudspeaker 106 is connected to the right surround jack and the right surround loudspeaker 108 is connected to the left surround jack, When the right surround loudspeaker 108 is predicted to be outputting a test signal, it can command the left surround loudspeaker 106 to output a test signal. The determined second angle (and / or determined first angle) may have a value that is predicted when the left surround loudspeaker 106 is not a right surround loudspeaker 108 but is outputting a test signal. Thus, a value of a second angle (and / or a determined first angle) similar to the value predicted for an alternate designation loudspeaker (e.g., a value similar to the value predicted for the right surround loudspeaker) And the listener 120 may be properly notified of the position of the second angle. In a further embodiment, the sound bar 110 may re-route the internal wiring of the sound bar 110 in a situation where the listener 120 does not need to manually replace the loudspeaker.

Alternatively or additionally, the notification may indicate that the loudspeaker has an incorrect polarity. For example, a user may have connected a positive input of a loudspeaker to a negative jack and a negative input of a loudspeaker to a positive jack. In this situation, the audio signal recorded from the microphone in the microphone array 114 may be out of phase in the test signal (e.g., 180 degrees out of phase). Therefore, the position estimation engine 116 can compare the recorded audio signal with the test signal. If the two signals are out of phase with respect to one another within a threshold of a particular value (e.g., 180), incorrect polarity can be recognized by the position estimation engine 116 and the listener 120 can be properly notified have. In a further embodiment, the soundbar 110 may re-route the internal wiring of the sound bar 110 to reverse the polarity in a situation where the listener 120 does not need to manually re-route the loudspeaker.

Alternatively or additionally, the notification may indicate that the loudspeaker position is inaccurate or non-ideal and / or where the loudspeaker should be repositioned. For example, the DPC peak may correspond to the distance between the loudspeaker and the microphone array 114. Since the DPC peak corresponds to the direct path of the audio signal from the loudspeaker to the microphone array 114, the loopback delay is added to the time at which the loudspeaker is commanded to output a test signal, and the combined time from the time the DPC peak occurs Subtracting corresponds to the time the audio signal traveled from the loudspeaker to the microphone array 114. This time can be converted to a distance estimate by the position estimation engine 116 by multiplying the time with the velocity of sound in the air. The distance estimate may represent the distance between the loudspeaker and the microphone array 114. The distance estimate may be combined with an angle estimate (e.g., a first angle) to determine a possible position of the loudspeaker. The location estimation engine 116 may derive a compensation parameter for use by the compensation component to modify the audio signal for optimal playback based on the determined possible location and / or determine a possible location on the user device 140 May be displayed on the graphical user interface. The location estimation engine 116 may also determine a location along the recommended array source 130 that is close to a possible location (e.g., the closest location in a standard layout) as a suggested location for relocating the loudspeaker . In some embodiments, the correction may be performed again after repositioning the loudspeaker to the recommended position. In some embodiments, one or more possible locations of the loudspeaker are displayed on the graphical user interface on the user device 140, and the listener 120 may select a location that best matches the physical location of the loudspeaker (e.g., For example, the listener 120 is not asked to reposition the loudspeakers).

The notification generated in block 260 or 262 may be transmitted by notification generator 118 to user device 140 via network 115. [ User device 140 may display a notification.

In an alternative embodiment, if the difference between the determined angles exceeds a threshold angle value, the position estimation engine 116 may select a second angle and / or a determined distance based on the DPC peak for use in performing the calibration do. Therefore, correction can be completed without generating a notification.

An exemplary graphical user interface

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI) 600 that may be displayed by the user device 140 of FIG. 1B. For example, the user device 140 may execute an application that causes the user device 140 to display the GUI 600. GUI 600 may include a graphical representation of a correction button 660, a compensation button 662 and a sound bar 610, a listener 620, a left surround loudspeaker 606 and a right surround loudspeaker 608 have.

The selection of the correction button 660 may be performed by the user device 140 in the sound bar 610 (e.g., in the GUI 600) to perform spatial and / or non-spatial (e.g., incorrect polarity detection) A physical device other than the depicted representation). As part of the correction, the soundbar 610 may generate a notification as described herein. Once the notification is generated, the notification may be sent to the user device 140 and displayed on the GUI 600. [ Alternatively, the soundbar 610 may send the result of the correction to the user device 140, and the user device 140 may determine whether a notification should be generated.

The selection of the compensation button 662 may toggle compensation processing on and off. Also, the listener 620 icon may be selected and dragged within the GUI to indicate the actual location of the listener 620. Within the GUI 600, additional options are selected to allow the listener 620 to change the layout of the loudspeakers 606 and 608, the location of the listener 620, and / or the locations of the loudspeakers 606 and 608, (Not shown). For example, if a notification is provided to the listener 620 and / or an abnormal condition is continuously detected after the correction has been initiated more than once, then this additional option (e.g., enabling the listener 620 to select from several possible displayed options A manual correction option, such as to be able to select the location of the loudspeaker in the GUI 600) may be presented to the listener 620.

Other exemplary loudspeaker position estimation processes

FIG. 7 shows another exemplary loudspeaker position estimation process 700. In one embodiment, the process 700 may include the sound bar 110 (e.g., the position estimation engine 116 and / or the notification generator 118) discussed with respect to FIGS. 1A and 1B, May be performed by any of the systems described in U.S. Pat. Depending on the embodiment, process 700 may include fewer and / or additional blocks, or blocks may be performed in a different order than shown.

At block 702, the loudspeaker is commanded to transmit a test signal. For example, the test signal may be a maximum length sequence. The loudspeaker may be instructed to transmit a test signal by the location estimation engine 116 via a wired or wireless connection. The microphone in the microphone array 114 may each generate an audio signal as a result of the output test signal. The audio signal may be recorded in a storage device (not shown).

At block 704, using a first technique, a first audio signal recorded from a first microphone in the microphone array 114 and a second audio signal recorded from a second microphone in the microphone array 114, 1 The angle is determined. The first technique may be any technique used to estimate the position of the loudspeaker. For example, the first technique may be the GCC-PHAT technique described herein.

At block 706, a second angle is determined based on the first audio signal and the second audio signal using a second technique. The second technique may be any technique used to estimate the position of a loudspeaker other than the first technique. For example, the second technique may be the DPC technique described herein.

As shown in FIG. 7, blocks 704 and 706 are performed in order, and block 704 is performed first. However, this is not intended to be limiting. For example, blocks 704 and 706 may be performed sequentially, and block 706 may be performed first. As another example, blocks 704 and 706 may be performed simultaneously.

At block 708, it is determined whether there is an abnormal condition based on a comparison of the first angle and the second angle. For example, if the first and second angles differ by more than the threshold angle value, there may be an abnormal condition, such as one or more abnormal conditions described herein. Otherwise, an abnormal condition may not exist.

Additional Examples

One aspect of the present disclosure provides an apparatus for estimating the position of a loudspeaker in a multi-channel surround sound system. The apparatus includes a microphone array including a first microphone and a second microphone, wherein the first microphone is configured to generate a first audio signal in response to the loudspeaker outputting a test signal, And to generate a second audio signal in response to the speaker outputting the test signal. The apparatus further includes a position estimation engine coupled to the microphone array, the position estimation engine comprising: determining an arrival time difference based on the first audio signal and the second audio signal; Determine a first angle based on a time difference of arrival; Identify a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal; Identify a second direct path component in an impulse response derived from the second audio signal; Determine a second angle based on the first direct path component and the second direct path component; Based on a comparison of the first angle and the second angle, whether or not an abnormal condition exists.

The apparatus of the preceding paragraph has the following features: the position estimation engine also generates a Fourier transform of the first audio signal to form a first Fourier transform, and a Fourier transform of the second audio signal to form a second Fourier transform, And to determine a time difference of arrival based on the first Fourier transform and the second Fourier transform; The location estimation engine may also be configured to: determine another arrival time difference based on different portions of the first audio signal and the different portion of the second audio signal, aggregate arrival time differences and other arrival time differences, And to select a time difference of arrival for determining a first angle based on the number of occurrences of the corresponding value; The position estimation engine is also configured to identify a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal, based on the highest amplitude in the impulse response derived from the first audio signal; The position estimation engine may also be adapted to derive from the first audio signal based on a first amplitude in the impulse response that occurs before the highest amplitude of the impulse response derived from the first audio signal and that is within the threshold of the highest amplitude, Wherein the first direct path component is configured to identify a first direct path component in an impulse response; The location estimation engine may also: select a first time window that includes the first direct path component, a second time window that includes the second direct path component, compare the data of the first time window and the data of the second time window To determine a cross-correlation using the data, and to determine a second angle using the determined cross-correlation; The position estimation engine is also configured to: compare the first angle with the second angle, and to determine that an abnormal condition is present in response to determining that the first and second angles are not within the threshold angle value; The position estimation engine is further configured to determine that an abnormal condition is not present in response to determining that the first angle and the second angle are within the threshold angle value; Critical angle values include between 0 ° and 15 °; The apparatus further comprises a notification generator configured to send a notification to the user device over the network in response to the determination that an abnormal condition is present; The notification can be one of an indication that the angle of the loudspeaker is incorrect, an indication that the object is blocking the path between the loudspeaker and the microphone array, an indication that the loudspeaker polarity is incorrect, and an indication that the loudspeaker is inaccurate or not ideal. Include; The location estimation engine is also configured to command the loudspeaker to output a test signal; The apparatus includes one of a sound bar, an audio / visual (A / V) receiver, a center speaker, and a television; A multi-channel surround sound system may include any subset of those arranged in one of stereo, 2.1, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, 7.2, 11.1, 11.2, and 22.2 speaker layouts.

Terms

Many other variations other than those described herein will be apparent from the present disclosure. For example, according to an embodiment, certain actions, events, or functions of any algorithm described herein may be performed in a different order and may be added, merged, or omitted together (e.g., Action or event is not required for algorithm implementation). Also, in certain embodiments, operations or events may be performed, for example, not sequentially, but multi-threaded processing, interrupt processing, or multiple processors or processor cores, or concurrently on other parallel architectures. Also, other work or processes may be performed by different machines and / or computing systems that may function together.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, and steps have been described above generally in terms of functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. The described functionality may be implemented in various ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks and modules described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a digital logic circuit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) Such as a hardware processor including a programmable logic device, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein As shown in FIG. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be a controller, microcontroller or state machine, or a combination thereof. The processor may comprise an electrical circuit configured to process computer-executable instructions. In another embodiment, the processor includes an FPGA or other programmable device that performs logic operations without processing computer-executable instructions. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors associated with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. The computing environment may include any type of computer system, including, but not limited to, a microprocessor, mainframe computer, digital signal processor, handheld computing device, device controller, or computing engine within the device .

The steps of a method, process, or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module stored in one or more memory devices and executed by one or more processors, or a combination of both. A software module may reside in RAM, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM or any other form of non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, May reside in a known physical computer storage device. An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integrated into the processor. The storage medium may be volatile or non-volatile. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC.

May "," may "," may "," may ", and the like, as used herein, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Quot; and "(e. G.)" Generally are intended to convey that a particular embodiment does not include a particular feature, element, and / or state but does not include other embodiments. Thus, it will be appreciated that such terms are generally used herein to refer to features, elements, and / or conditions in any manner whatsoever of one or more embodiments, or that one or more embodiments may be implemented with input, Quot; is intended to be inclusive or not to imply that it is intended to be < RTI ID = 0.0 > embracing < / RTI > logic to determine whether or not it should be performed in any particular embodiment. The terms "comprising", "including", "having", and the like are synonymous and are used in an open fashion and include additional elements, features, acts, operations, etc. Do not exclude. Also, the term "or" is used in a generic sense (not used in an exclusive sense), for example, when used to link a list of elements, the term "or" Or all of them. Also, as used herein, the term "each" may mean any subset of the set of elements to which the term "each" applies, in addition to having its ordinary meaning.

Alternative terms such as "at least one of X, Y, and Z" should be understood as the context in which items, terms, etc. are generally used to convey X, Y or Z or a combination thereof unless otherwise specified. Thus, such alternatives are generally not intended to imply that at least one of X, at least one of Y, and at least one of Z exist for a particular embodiment to exist for each.

Unless otherwise indicated, articles such as "a" or "an" are to be construed to generally include one or more of the described items. Thus, a phrase such as " a device configured to "is intended to include one or more cited devices. Such one or more cited devices may also be collectively configured to perform the stated entries. For example, a "processor configured to perform subscriptions A, B, and C" may include a first processor configured to perform subscription A that operates in conjunction with a second processor configured to perform subscriptions B and C .

Although the foregoing detailed description has shown, described, and pointed out novel features which are applied to various embodiments, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices or algorithms depicted may be made without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. Will be understood. As will be appreciated, certain embodiments of the invention described herein may be implemented in a form that does not provide all the features and advantages recited in this disclosure, as some features may be used or practiced separately from others have.

Claims (20)

An apparatus for estimating the position of a loudspeaker in a multi-channel surround sound system, comprising:
A microphone array comprising a first microphone and a second microphone, wherein the first microphone is configured to generate a first audio signal in response to the loudspeaker outputting a test signal, And to generate a second audio signal in response to outputting the test signal; And
A position estimation engine coupled to the microphone array, the position estimation engine comprising:
Determine an arrival time difference estimate based on the first audio signal and the second audio signal;
Determine a first angle based on the arrival time difference estimate;
Identify a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal;
Identify a second direct path component in an impulse response derived from the second audio signal;
Determine a second angle based on the first direct path component and the second direct path component;
And to determine whether an abnormal condition exists based on a comparison of the first angle and the second angle. The method according to claim 1,
The location estimation engine also includes:
Dividing the first audio signal into one or more first segments;
Divide the second audio signal into one or more second segments;
Generate a Fourier transform of a first one of the one or more first segments to form a first Fourier transform;
Generate a Fourier transform of a first one of the one or more second segments to form a second Fourier transform;
And to determine the arrival time difference estimate based on the first Fourier transform and the second Fourier transform. ≪ Desc / Clms Page number 19 > 3. The method of claim 2,
The location estimation engine also includes:
Determine a plurality of arrival time difference estimates based on the generated Fourier transform of the at least one first segment and the at least one second segment;
Aggregate the plurality of arrival time difference estimates into a histogram;
And determine arrival time difference estimates based on arrival time difference estimates in the plurality of arrival time difference estimates with the most occurrence in the histogram. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the position estimation engine is further configured to identify the first direct path component in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal based on a highest amplitude in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal, A device for estimating the position of a loudspeaker in a sound system. The method according to claim 1,
The location estimation engine also includes:
Selecting a first time window including the first direct path component;
Selecting a second time window including the second direct path component;
Determine cross-correlation using data in the first time window and data in the second time window;
And determine the second angle using the determined cross-correlation. ≪ Desc / Clms Page number 19 > The method according to claim 1,
The location estimation engine also includes:
Compare the first angle with the second angle;
And determine that the abnormal condition is present in response to determining that the first angle and the second angle are not within a threshold angle value. ≪ Desc / Clms Page number 21 > The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the threshold angle value comprises a value between 0 and 15 degrees. ≪ Desc / Clms Page number 13 > The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a notification generator configured to send a notification to the user device over the network in response to the determination that the abnormal condition is present. 9. The method of claim 8,
The notification may include an indication that the angle of the loudspeaker is incorrect, an indication that the object is blocking the path between the loudspeaker and the microphone array, an indication that the polarity of the loudspeaker is incorrect, and an indication that the location of the loudspeaker is incorrect Wherein the at least one loudspeaker is one of a plurality of loudspeakers. The method according to claim 1,
An apparatus for estimating the position of a loudspeaker in a multi-channel surround sound system, the system comprising one of a soundbar, an audio / visual (A / V) receiver, a center speaker, and a television. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the multi-channel surround sound system is arranged in one of a stereo, 2.1, 3.1, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, 7.2, 11.1, 11.2, and 22.2 speaker layout. A method for estimating the position of a loudspeaker in a multi-channel surround sound system, comprising:
Receiving a first audio signal from a first microphone of the microphone array and receiving a second audio signal from a second microphone of the microphone array;
Determining an arrival time difference estimate based on the first audio signal and the second audio signal;
Determining a first angle based on the arrival time difference estimate;
Identifying a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal;
Identifying a second direct path component in an impulse response derived from the second audio signal;
Determining a second angle based on the first direct path component and the second direct path component; And
And determining whether an abnormal condition exists based on a comparison of the first angle and the second angle. ≪ Desc / Clms Page number 19 > 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the determining the arrival time difference estimate comprises:
Dividing the first audio signal into one or more first segments;
Dividing the second audio signal into one or more second segments;
Generating a Fourier transform of a first one of the one or more first segments to form a first Fourier transform;
Generating a Fourier transform of a first one of the one or more second segments to form a second Fourier transform; And
Further comprising determining the arrival time difference estimate based on the first Fourier transform and the second Fourier transform. ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 > 8. < / RTI > 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein identifying a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal comprises determining a first direct path component in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal based on a maximum amplitude in an impulse response derived from the first audio signal, Further comprising identifying the first direct path component. ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 > 8. < / RTI > 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the step of determining whether the abnormal condition is present comprises:
Comparing the first angle with the second angle; And
Further comprising determining that the abnormal condition is present in response to determining that the first angle and the second angle are not within a threshold angle value. ≪ Desc / Clms Page number 17 > 16. The method of claim 15,
Wherein the threshold angle value comprises a value between 0 and 15 degrees. 13. The method of claim 12,
Further comprising transmitting a notification to the user device over the network in response to the determination that the abnormal condition is present, the notification indicating that the angle of the loudspeaker is incorrect, Wherein the loudspeaker comprises one of an indication that it is blocking the path, an indication that the polarity of the loudspeaker is incorrect, and an indication that the location of the loudspeaker is inaccurate. 18. A non-volatile physical computer storage device in which executable instructions are stored, the executable instructions comprising instructions that, when executed by a hardware processor,
Command a loudspeaker to transmit a test signal;
Determine a first angle based on a first audio signal recorded from a first microphone in the microphone array and a second audio signal recorded from a second microphone in the microphone array using the first technique;
Determine a second angle based on the first audio signal and the second audio signal using a second technique;
And determine whether an abnormal condition is present based on a comparison of the first angle and the second angle. 19. The method of claim 18,
Wherein the first technique comprises a Generalized Cross Correlation and Phase Transform (GCC-PHAT) technique. 19. The method of claim 18,
Wherein the second technique comprises a direct path component (DPC) technique.

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